• Title/Summary/Keyword: System biology

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MicroTom - A Model Plant System to Study Bacterial Wilt by Ralstonia solanacearum

  • Park, Eun-Jin;Lee, Seung-Don;Chung, Eu-Jin;Lee, Myung-Hwan;Um, Hae-Young;Murugaiyan, Senthilkumar;Moon, Byung-Ju;Lee, Seon-Woo
    • The Plant Pathology Journal
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    • v.23 no.4
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    • pp.239-244
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    • 2007
  • MicroTom is a miniature tomato plants with various properties that make it as a model system for experiments in plant molecular biology. To extend its utility as a model plant to study a plant - bacterial wilt system, we investigated the potential of the MicroTom as a host plant of bacterial wilt caused by Ralstonia solanacearum. We compared the disease progress on standard tomato and MicroTom by two inoculation methods, root dipping and soil drenching, using a race 1 strain GMI1000. Both methods caused the severe wilting on MicroTom comparable to commercial tomato plant, although initial disease development was faster in root dipping. From the diseased MicroTom plants, the same bacteria were successfully reisolated using semiselective media to fulfill Koch's postulates. Race specific and isolate specific virulence were investigated by root dipping with 10 isolates of R. solanacearum isolated from tomato and potato plants. All of the tested isolates caused the typical wilt symptom on MicroTom. Disease severities by isolates of race 3 was below 50 % until 15 days after inoculation, while those by isolates of race 1 reached over 50% to death until 15 days. This result suggested that MicroTom can be a model host plant to study R. solanacearum - plant interaction.

Development of the Mammalian Expression Vector System that can be Induced by IPTG and/or Lactose

  • Myung, Seung-Hyun;Park, Junghee;Han, Ji-Hye;Kim, Tae-Hyoung
    • Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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    • v.30 no.8
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    • pp.1124-1131
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    • 2020
  • Techniques used for the regulation of gene expression facilitate studies of gene function and treatment of diseases via gene therapy. Many tools have been developed for the regulation of gene expression in mammalian cells. The Lac operon system induced with isopropyl β-D-1-thiogalactopyranoside (IPTG) is one of the employed inducible systems. IPTG mimics the molecular structure of allolactose and has a strong affinity for the corresponding repressor. IPTG is known to rapidly penetrate into mammalian cells and exhibits low toxicity. In the present study, we developed a new inducible expression system that could regulate the expression of genes in mammalian cells using IPTG. Here we confirm that unlike other vector systems based on the Lac operon, this expression system allows regulation of gene expression with lactose in the mammalian cells upon transfection. The co-treatment with IPTG and lactose could improve the regulatory efficiency of the specific target gene expression. The regulation of gene expression with lactose has several benefits. Lactose is safe in humans as compared to other chemical substances and is easily available, making this technique very cost-effective.

Innate Color Preference of Zebrafish and Its Use in Behavioral Analyses

  • Park, Jong-Su;Ryu, Jae-Ho;Choi, Tae-Ik;Bae, Young-Ki;Lee, Suman;Kang, Hae Jin;Kim, Cheol-Hee
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.39 no.10
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    • pp.750-755
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    • 2016
  • Although innate color preference of motile organisms may provide clues to behavioral biases, it has remained a longstanding question. In this study, we investigated innate color preference of zebrafish larvae. A cross maze with different color sleeves around each arm was used for the color preference test (R; red, G; green, B; blue, Y; yellow). The findings showed that 5 dpf zebrafish larvae preferred blue over other colors (B > R > G > Y). To study innate color recognition further, tyrosinase mutants were generated using CRISPR/Cas9 system. As a model for oculocutaneous albinism (OCA) and color vision impairment, tyrosinase mutants demonstrated diminished color sensation, indicated mainly by hypopigmentation of the retinal pigment epithelium (RPE). Due to its relative simplicity and ease, color preference screening using zebrafish larvae is suitable for high-throughput screening applications. This system may potentially be applied to the analysis of drug effects on larval behavior or the detection of sensory deficits in neurological disorder models, such as autism-related disorders, using mutant larvae generated by the CRISPR/Cas9 technique.

RUNX1 Dosage in Development and Cancer

  • Lie-a-ling, Michael;Mevel, Renaud;Patel, Rahima;Blyth, Karen;Baena, Esther;Kouskoff, Valerie;Lacaud, Georges
    • Molecules and Cells
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    • v.43 no.2
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    • pp.126-138
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    • 2020
  • The transcription factor RUNX1 first came to prominence due to its involvement in the t(8;21) translocation in acute myeloid leukemia (AML). Since this discovery, RUNX1 has been shown to play important roles not only in leukemia but also in the ontogeny of the normal hematopoietic system. Although it is currently still challenging to fully assess the different parameters regulating RUNX1 dosage, it has become clear that the dose of RUNX1 can greatly affect both leukemia and normal hematopoietic development. It is also becoming evident that varying levels of RUNX1 expression can be used as markers of tumor progression not only in the hematopoietic system, but also in non-hematopoietic cancers. Here, we provide an overview of the current knowledge of the effects of RUNX1 dosage in normal development of both hematopoietic and epithelial tissues and their associated cancers.

The Effects of 'Online Biology Learning Using E-Learning System' on Elementary School Students' Science-Related Attitudes (e학습터 플랫폼을 활용한 원격 생물 학습이 초등학생들의 과학 관련 태도에 미치는 영향)

  • Park, Hyoung-Min;Lim, Chae-Seong
    • Journal of Korean Elementary Science Education
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    • v.40 no.1
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    • pp.13-21
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    • 2021
  • This study analyzed the effects of 'online biology learning using E-learning system' on elementary school students' science-related attitudes. Samples of the study were composed of 95 sixth-grade students of N elementary school in Seoul, Korea. The learning was conducted for 11 times over a month. The main results of this study are as follows. First, for the paired t-test, a statistically significant difference between the pre and post scores of science-related attitudes was found. After conducting the online biology learning science related attitudes scores of students generally declined. "The boredom caused by simply watching online biology contents" is the decisive cause of the decline in science-related attitude scores analyzed through interviews. Second, in ANCOVA, according to 'levels of meta-cognition'. there was no statistically significant difference in scores of science-related attitudes. but, there was statistically significant difference in science-related attitudes according to 'adoption of scientific attitudes'. Students of high meta-cognition type showed a greater decline in scores than students of low meta-cognition type. Based on the results of this study, implications for research of online biology education and elementary science education are discussed.

Mucosal Immune System and M Cell-targeting Strategies for Oral Mucosal Vaccination

  • Kim, Sae-Hae;Lee, Kyung-Yeol;Jang, Yong-Suk
    • IMMUNE NETWORK
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    • v.12 no.5
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    • pp.165-175
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    • 2012
  • Vaccination is one of the most effective methods available to prevent infectious diseases. Mucosa, which are exposed to heavy loads of commensal and pathogenic microorganisms, are one of the first areas where infections are established, and therefore have frontline status in immunity, making mucosa ideal sites for vaccine application. Moreover, vaccination through the mucosal immune system could induce effective systemic immune responses together with mucosal immunity in contrast to parenteral vaccination, which is a poor inducer of effective immunity at mucosal surfaces. Among mucosal vaccines, oral mucosal vaccines have the advantages of ease and low cost of vaccine administration. The oral mucosal immune system, however, is generally recognized as poorly immunogenic due to the frequent induction of tolerance against orally-introduced antigens. Consequently, a prerequisite for successful mucosal vaccination is that the orally introduced antigen should be transported across the mucosal surface into the mucosa-associated lymphoid tissue (MALT). In particular, M cells are responsible for antigen up-take into MALT, and the rapid and effective transcytotic activity of M cells makes them an attractive target for mucosal vaccine delivery, although simple transport of the antigen into M cells does not guarantee the induction of specific immune responses. Consequently, development of mucosal vaccine adjuvants based on an understanding of the biology of M cells has attracted much research interest. Here, we review the characteristics of the oral mucosal immune system and delineate strategies to design effective oral mucosal vaccines with an emphasis on mucosal vaccine adjuvants.

Development of a Chemically Defined In Vitro Maturation System for Porcine Oocytes: Application for Somatic Cell Nuclear Transfer

  • Koo, Ja-Min;Won, Cheol-Hee;Min, Byung-Moo;Roh, Sang-Ho
    • International Journal of Oral Biology
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    • v.30 no.4
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    • pp.131-134
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    • 2005
  • In the present study, performances of several in vitro maturation (IVM) systems for porcine follicular oocytes were evaluated, and an efficient chemically defined IVM system for porcine oocytes was proposed. The proposed one-step culture system supplemented with polyvinylalcohol (PVA) gave competitive efficiencies in terms of oocyte maturation and blastocyst development after parthenogenetic activation and in vitro culture, compared with the conventional two-step culture system by a supplementation of porcine follicular fluid (pFF). Additionally, it is identified that the proposed chemically defined one-step culture system yielded the comparable level of blastocyst production to the conventional maturation system in porcine somatic cell nuclear transfer (SCNT). Therefore, one can eliminate un-expected effects accompanied by supplementation of pFF. No medium replacement during whole maturation period is an additional benefit by applying this new system. Thus, these data support that the developed PVA supplemented chemically defined one-step IVM system for porcine follicular oocyte might be used in porcine SCNT program.

Applications of MEMS Technology on Medicine & Biology (의료 및 생물학에 응용되는 MEMS기술)

  • Chang, J.K.;Chung, S.;Han, D.C.
    • Transactions of Materials Processing
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    • v.11 no.2
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    • pp.108-113
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    • 2002
  • The application fields of medicine and biology are spotlighted because of the increasing concentration of health and the abundance of life. MEMS is very good solution in this fields for the concept of point of care which makes systems more useful and spread wide. This paper shows the major fabrication schemes and application fields of microelectromechanical system specially in medicine and biology fields.